Barefoot Running: you've heard the hype, but do you know the facts?

PORTLAND, OREGON - June 20, 2011 - Brooke Facteau seriously damaged her feet when she tried barefoot running earlier this year. her foot and ankle still are in a cast. Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian

Brooke Facteau was running in Laurelhurst Park in early spring when she rolled onto her left foot as it hit the ground. Next came stinging pain. Facteau later learned she fractured and displaced her fifth metatarsal, a long bone on the outer foot that connects to the pinky toe — and she needed surgery. Two months later, she still wears a cast. Facteau, 32, of Portland was wearing barefoot running shoes — more precisely minimalist five-toed shoes with a slight heel. More and more people like Facteau are ditching their shoes for naked foot running. The Barefoot Runners Society, formed in 2010, has 2,514 members nationwide. The Oregon chapter has 54 members. Dr. John Mozena measures the popularity of barefoot running by the waiting room of his Town Center Foot Clinic in Portland. The podiatric physician and surgeon estimates he sees two to three patients a month injured from running barefoot. Some, like Facteau, need surgery. “Most of the people I see were doing fine,” Mozena says about conventional running. “Once they went barefoot or got a minimalist shoe, their injuries skyrocketed.” Some podiatrists like Mozena say running barefoot can lead to numerous injuries such as achilles tendonitis –inflammation of the achilles tendant – or stress fractures. Others claim bodies are built to run shoeless — and do so without hurting theselves. The two sides have found some common ground. As summer approaches and as people consider leaving their running shoes at home, they need to be well-informed before dashing off.

Too fast Barefoot running is not for everyone, says Dr. Ryan Petering, who specializes in physical sports and family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. “It has a lot of great potential benefits for people that are trying to run, but it also has the potential to be harmful.” The hype on this form of running needs to be taken with a grain of salt, says Petering, because peoples’ bodies will react differently to the exercise. “If people want to try barefoot running, they should do it gradually, and it should be part of a bigger training program,” says OHSU’s Petering. Run conservatively at first, he says, and set goals with particular time frames. Even Josh Humbert, president of the state’s Barefoot Runners Society, knows a person can get injured while running barefoot if it’s not done in a sensible manner.Humbert, 40, was a teenager when he took off his shoes to run barefoot on his high school track. “You’re getting all this sensory input from your feet and that’s something you don’t get with shoes,” he says. But that liberated feeling is what often leads to injuries, says Humbert. Members of the barefoot running group have injured themselves that way. “When you start doing it, it’s so easy to get too excited about it and run too far, too soon.” Slow down seems to be the advice from runners and physicians alike. Dr. Irene Davis, director of the Spaulding National Running Center and with physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School in Boston, also feels people start off too aggressively, despite warnings to take it slow. “It feels good to them and they go out and do too much.” Davis, a barefoot runner since 2009, says trying to run barefoot is no different than starting any exercise regime. “Those of us working for people that want to reduce footwear or run barefoot need to be very clear that it’s like any other new exercise program. You wouldn’t lift 100 pounds the first time you go to the gym.” The rest of the story That spring morning at Laurelhurst was Facteau’s first run of the season. Discomfort during past runs in her minimalist shoes forced her to stop running for three months. But the long-time runner was anxious to hit the trails again. The hype about barefoot running attracted her. Though she researched online before purchasing barefoot shoes, Facteau has since realized the reviews were one-sided. Now that she’s learned the hard way, she wishes there had been more information about the potential harm from barefoot running. “I didn’t read anything from any doctors, it was other runners giving the thumbs up,” says Facteau. And as she slowly transitioned into running with minimalist shoes, she dismissed odd aches and pains in her hips, legs, and calves. “I have a strong opinion against them now,” she says. When Facteau’s foot heals and she returns to running, it will be in conventional shoes.